Cops can’t tell by smell alone whether you have an ounce or multiple pounds of weed.Neither can police dogs.

​ ​(A recent Massachusetts case has brought attention to the growing haze of confusion around the state’s marijuana laws, as one high-profile case was thrown out when a judge said police cannot tell by smell alone whether an ounce or multiple pounds of pot are present. One ounce and under, of course, has been decriminalized in the state.)

Repercussions from the case may mean that police are wasting their time using drug-sniffing dogs as the basis for pot arrests, according to an opinion piece from GateHouse News Service.

In the Route 3 case, state police said they smelled marijuana on the breath of two passengers in the back seat of a taxi that had been stopped in Hingham for a broken license plate light.

When the officers then let a police drug dog sniff the vehicle, the animal signaled that it smelled drugs in the trunk of the taxi. When it was opened, a suitcase containing 13.5 pounds of marijuana was found.

The passengers, from Watertown and Falmouth, were arrested, but questions arose about whether police had probable cause to conduct the search.

An April ruling by the state Supreme Judicial Court prohibits police from searching a vehicle solely because they smell marijuana. Massachusetts voters in 2008 made possession of one ounce or less of marijuana a civil infraction and not a crime.

The court wrote that police cannot discern by smell alone whether someone has more than an ounce of marijuana.

Marijuana activists say the ruling should apply to drug dogs, too, and legal experts are unsure how the issue will be resolved.

Sheridan arrived on a flight from New York to Bermuda on May 23 at 2:10 p.m. She was selected for a search by Customs officers because a drug-detecting dog had alerted to her seat on the plane.

In the ensuing search, a Customs dog alerted on Sheridan’s groin area. When asked if she had any drugs, she said, “Yes, in between my legs.”

Officers searched her luggage and discovered a black container, a clear herb grinder with traces of plant material, rolling papers and a ceramic pipe made to look like a cigarette.

In a private search room, Sheridan removed a white sock from her groin area. The sock contained two plastic bags, one with coffee grounds and another with three grams of cannabis.

She was arrested on the spot for importing drugs into Bermuda.

Counsel Marc Daniels told the court that Sheridan used cannabis as a treatment for depression. “She uses weed to calm her nerves and should be dealt with by way of a fine,” Daniels said.

“The fact that she had it hidden between her legs would indicate she knew it was contraband,” remarked Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner. “She knew it was illegal.”

Warner fined Sheridan $2,000, to be paid immediately.

Just one day before, Edith Lord Wolffe, a tourist from California, was given 30 days in jail and a $3,000 fine for importing 35 grams of cannabis. The court heard that Wolffe’s physician had recommended cannabis for her chronic illness, Ménière’s disease.

Wolffe’s lawyer, Mark Pettingill, has launched an appeal and a bail application.

According to reports, a new strain of cannabis has popped up in Toronto, Canada named after teen pop sensation Justin Bieber; it’s known as “JB Kush.” When he heard the news, the real JB reportedly became furious that his name was associated with marijuana, and has asked his team to consider legal action.

Of course, the marijuana is already being sold illegally by dealers in Canada, so I doubt he’ll have much luck in bringing civil action against those selling “JB Kush.” In all likelihood it’s just an established strain with a new name slapped on it to capitalize on the person’s fame – as we’ve seen with several other celebrities.

Either way, it’s getting a lot of publicity, and I’m sure that was the point. If any of our readers have tried “JB Kush,” let us know your thoughts on it in the comments.

The reefer madness saga continues as one man blames two pot cookies for his recent meltdown.

Thirty-two-year-old artist Kinman Chan apologized during his guilty plea last Tuesday to interfering with the flight crew on board a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco in January 2010. He was fined and sentenced to probation.

Apparently, the cookies he ingested before boarding made him pull his pants down and flip out on a flight. (I must confess, pot cookies may have caused me to pull my pants down in the past, but not on a flight luckily. A flight of fancy perhaps.)

How many more people will pull down their pants and blame it on a pot cookie? I just might…today.

PITTSBURGH – A San Francisco man claims he was high on a double dose of medical marijuana cookies when he screamed, dropped his pants and attacked crew members on a cross-country flight, forcing its diversion to Pittsburgh, the FBI said Wednesday.

Kinman Chan, 30, was charged in a criminal complaint with interfering with the duties of a flight attendant on allegations that he fought with crew members of US Airways Flight 1447 from Philadelphia to Los Angeles on Sunday. His federal public defender, Jay Finkelstein, declined to comment.

Crew members said Chan made odd gestures before he entered the plane’s rear restroom shortly after takeoff and began to scream, according to the complaint.

Chan told the FBI that he “came back to reality” and exited the restroom, at which point the crew noticed his “pants were down, his shirt was untucked and all the compartments in the restroom were opened.”

When crew members tried to get Chan to sit, he fought them and had to be subdued in a choke hold, the complaint said.

Chan told agents who interviewed him in Pittsburgh that he ate marijuana cookies while waiting for his flight to depart in Philadelphia.

“Chan advised he has a medical marijuana card and he took double his normal dose,” the complaint said.

Margaret Philbin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh, said Chan has a legally issued medical marijuana card for a “legitimate” health issue, which she declined to identify.

The flight was diverted to Pittsburgh International Airport, where Chan was arrested, then jailed until a federal magistrate granted him bond Tuesday, Philbin said.